King's Lynn 1 Salisbury City 3
4th April 2006
The league leaders were too strong for the Linnets in
this crucial top-of-the-table clash.Lynn had soon equalised an early Lilywhites goal, but the visitors, who defended solidly and counter-attacked well, added another either side of half-time.
The league's best attack (Lynn) came up against the best defence.
But a brace from City's Wayne Turk decided the game as Salisbury gave the title contenders a lesson in finishing, putting away their best three chances.
It brought an end to a run of eight successive wins.
In fact, the last time The Walks outfit lost, Grant Cooper was also missing with injury.
Lynn lined up without Cooper, who failed a late fitness test on his hamstring.
This resulted in the smallest Lynn back-four seen for some time, as Dean West moved in to partner Mark Camm at centre-back, with Stephen Harvey coming in at right-back.
Lynn came to regret this, and Cooper's absence, as the first two goals conceded came from set-pieces.
Turk on five minutes opened the scoring, volleying home from 20 yards after Lynn had twice failed to clear following a corner.
Matt Nolan replied in the eighth minute with probably the freakiest goal he will ever score.
Shaun Carey, who had an excellent first half-hour, played the ball to Nolan down the right. The forward sent a high, looping ball towards strike partner Jack Defty, who fairly went up for a challenge with keeper Kevin Sawyer, who let the ball through his hands and drift into the net.
The third soft goal of the night came after a controversial corner was awarded to Salisbury on 27 minutes. The superb Ashan Holgate, on loan from Swindon, rose above everyone to head home, as keeper Arron Benstead could only help the ball into the net.
Lynn manager Tommy Taylor soon rectified the lack of height in the home defence by bringing on Danny Hammond instead of Harvey. West moved to full-back.
Hammond almost turned in an Adam Smith effort while Nolan was in a good position to shoot, but the ball got stuck under his feet.
The turning point, as Taylor later agreed, was just ten seconds into the second half.
Cedric Anselin had just the keeper to beat on the left of the box. He tried to place a curler around Sawyer, but the Frenchman put it too near to the keeper.
That was it for Lynn for the night. They got embroiled in a niggly final half-hour and the third away goal seemed to deflate them.
This goal came on 54 minutes when Turk got his second, evading weak tackles on the edge of the box to fire home into the opposite corner.
Their passing, so good before the break, broke down as they (understandably) became more frantic when they were two strikes behind; and they failed to properly test the flap-prone Sawyer.
Lynn frequently seem to freeze or not play to their best in front of a big crowd.
They are now left the possible prospect of beating Bath City twice in a week in order to progress to the Conference set-up via the play-offs, as Salisbury are now favourites to grab the one automatic promotion spot.
Lynn: Benstead, West, Smith, McMahon, Harvey (Hammond 29), Camm, Defty, Anselin (Peters 77), Nolan, Carey, O'Halloran (Hyde 62). Subs not used: Charles, Higgs. Booked: O'Halloran .
Salisbury: Sawyer, Bartlett, Browne, Cook, Bond, Widdrington, Turk, Prince, Sales, Folgate (Matthews 75), Haddow. Not used: Regis, Ferrett, Davis. Booked: Bartlett, Brown.
Att: 1,821. Referee: Gavin Hambling (Norwich).